California’s ‘Camp’ Wildfire Is Almost 2x The Size Of Shreveport

The deadliest wildfire in California's history is almost two times the city of Shreveport.

At the time I am composing this article, 63 people have been killed by the Camp fire in northern California along with another 600 being reported as missing making it the most deadly in the states' history. Video and pics of this fire show complete and utter destruction as complete towns and neighborhoods have been wiped from existence and displacing thousands of people.

Louisiana and Texas is just as susceptible to wildfires as California, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Florida and other states are. Taking a look at data from the Texas A&M Forest Service, it revealed that over 31,000 wildfires burned about 4 million acres and destroyed nearly 3,000 homes across Texas in 2011, making that year the worst on record.

I remember that year very well in East Texas. It seemed like every day there was a report of a wildfire. Especially in Cass and Marion Counties. The Bear Creek Fire that sparked on Sept. 4, 2011:

Burned 41,050 acres

Destroyed 66 homes

Burned for 51 days

Cause never identified

According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the Bear Creek Fire is the largest wildfire in East Texas history to date.

Now we are seeing the immense wildfires burning through California that are being called the most destructive in the state’s history. These blazes (Camp Fire, Woolsey Fire and Hill Fire) have been fueled by intense Santa Ana winds and have been burning since November 8th, leading to the destruction of over 300,000 acres, more than 7000 residential structures and numerous commercial properties.

To put into perspective just how enormous these fires are, NBC News put together an interactive map that allows you to compare the three California fires to the size of any area on the map.

The Camp Fire is the largest of the three in Northern California. If this happened in Shreveport, it would cover the entire city plus some. As of November 15th, this fire covered 223 square miles, that’s 2 times the size of Shreveport.

Taking a look at the fire's size, here's how it compares to Longview, TX:

NBCNews.com

We all should be praying the people that have been affected by these wildfires and support organizations that can give them some assistance to help the rebuilding process. We should also continue prayers for those fire fighters that are on the front lines trying to contain these massive beasts.

It's unimaginable the devastation that these fires has caused and what the affected families are going through. The cause of the Camp Fire is still under investigation, and NBC News reports that it could be the end of November before firefighters contain the wildfire.